What makes a good essay great?

Libraries and the internet are awash with advice on how to write a good essay. If you haven’t read these tips directly, you’ll probably have absorbed them through osmosis by now. Plan ahead. Read thoroughly. Stick to a logical structure. Redraft. These are all solid rules to follow, but what about advice for those who want to go above and beyond? Assignment writers and essay writing services in the UK offer the following ideas:

Do more. I know, I know – it’s not the juiciest or the most exciting tip, but it’s the most honest. The basic ingredients that will get you a good essay will also get you a great one if you take them to the next level. Don’t start two weeks ahead of the deadline, start a month before it. Read far and wide – start with the authorities in your field, use their bibliographies, find the controversies, and get stuck in. Once you’ve gathered a metric ton of notes, you can start to organise your thinking. Group related points. Start making an outline for your essay, with sections of what you will discuss. Give yourself plenty of time to write up, and redraft twice. Print it off and read it aloud for proofreading – nothing works better. It’s a slog, but you’ll find that the more you do this the easier it will be. By really getting into the meat of a topic, assignment writers tend to find they become excited by what they are reading about and thinking, and an opinion you genuinely want to put to the world will form.

Strive for flair. Flair in writing isn’t the easiest concept to define. In layman’s terms it’s something like an ‘X Factor’. The conditions that lead to it are more identifiable, however. It comes when someone is in total command of their subject matter, and their writing flows. It always has a ring of authenticity, which comes first from an author knowing exactly what they want to say and secondly from their passion for their viewpoint. To achieve flair you must follow the first tip as a precondition, and then, above all, think. What is your take on your assignment question, having done all this preparation? What do you really think? Don’t just aim to satisfy a mark scheme here; aim to really answer the question, as though you were debating it in earnest with a friend. Flair will follow.

Feedback. Don’t simply finish the work off and then hand it in. Get feedback! Use friends, lecturers, or essay writing services in the UK to gain a second opinion on your assignment. Nothing substitutes for a fresh pair of eyes, and you don’t have the luxury of putting your work away somewhere until you’ve achieved enough distance to look at it objectively. Ask for their thoughts, and if everyone mentions a particular point, good or bad – they’re right. Incorporating suggestions before you hand it in will give you the best chance of writing a great essay.